New delhi-Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at India AI Summit 2026 reflecting on the rapid acceleration of AI and the responsibility that comes with it. Drawing on the origins of the first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, he underscored the importance of balancing innovation with safety.
“Artificial intelligence can do many things,” he noted, “but it will never replace the wonder of human experience.” Yet its transformative power, he emphasized, is unprecedented. From the telephone taking 75 years to reach 100 million users to ChatGPT reaching that milestone in just two months, the pace of change is rewriting history.
Sunak highlighted India’s unique position in this global transformation. With its digital public infrastructure, Aadhaar, UPI, and health accounts, India has built the foundations to scale AI for 1.4 billion people. He pointed to the country’s thriving startup ecosystem, its growing unicorn base, and innovations like Sarvam AI as evidence that the “real race” in AI is not just about frontier breakthroughs, but widespread adoption.
Citing global challenges, from food security to healthcare access and education gaps, Sunak argued that AI offers solutions at scale. Whether empowering farmers, supporting maternal healthcare, or delivering personalized learning, AI has the potential to “raise the floor for humanity,” creating unprecedented equality of opportunity.
The technical depth of the summit was further elevated by Surya Ganguli, Professor of AI, Neuroscience, and Physics at Stanford University, who offered a scientific roadmap for the future of intelligence.
